The Education Pipeline Shouldn’t Demand Resilience: Reframing How Latina/o/x Students Navigate Systemic Inequities in Education

• In Event: Navigating Language, Identity, and Culture

Abstract

This systematic literature review examines how K-16 educational systems continue to reproduce racialized inequities for Latina/o/x students while offering only symbolic equity reforms. Synthesizing peer-reviewed research from 1991 to 2025, the study critiques the persistent framing of student resilience as an individual strength, rather than confronting the institutional conditions that demand it. The review identifies barriers across the pipeline, such as underfunded schools, inadequate advising, and cultural misrecognition, and reveals a gap between targeted initiatives and lasting structural change. Few studies disaggregate student experiences or track long-term equity outcomes. This work calls for a shift from celebrating student survival to dismantling exclusionary practices, arguing that true equity requires institutional accountability, not student adaptation.

Author

• Kaila Marie Campos, University of Texas at Austin